NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Despite the fact that around 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, we, as a country, sit on a collective wealth of extra cash; somewhere in the region of $300 billion is idling in accounts nationwide. These are not emergency funds; rather, it’s what Cat Berman, founder of the new Oakland-based startup CNote, calls “just in case” cash–she estimates that there are around 30 million “oversavers,” who have an average of an extra $10,000 in their accounts.

Berman, a former managing director at Charles Schwab and the founder of several social enterprises, landed on the idea for CNote when she took a look at her bank accounts online and saw several thousand dollars just sitting there. “I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing?’” Berman tells Fast Company. “Why do I have all this money just sitting in my savings account, and not doing good for anybody?” (Experts recommend keeping about six months of funds in cash in the bank in case of emergencies).

CNote is a way to put idle savings account funds toward the public good. The startup allows individuals to invest directly in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)–Treasury Department-certified organizations whose goal it is to invest in economic development and job creation in low-income communities. There are more than 1,000 CDFIs across America, and they make the kind of “small dollar” loans to local businesses that larger financial institutions generally don’t offer.

Photo courtesy of GotCredit.